i believe the american people understand that, yes, we need to reduce the deficit, but it shouldn't just be on the backs of seniors. it shouldn't just be on the backs of young people. >> professor, do republicans not realize that they are protecting the interests of massive oil companies and their profits and potentially throwing the poor into abject poverty? >> if they look at the data and look at the facts, i would say they would absolutely have to acknowledge that. you know, this is kind of a tricky situation, right, because the sequester was never meant to be put into policy. it was meant to sort of threaten politicians to make policy that could be more efficient and a little bit more balanced. a lot of people criticizing this president would not working on behalf of the poor or defending the poor. when you look at the draconian cuts you just listed at the beginning of the segment, those things all attack and undermine the economic and food security of poor people in this country. what's interesting about this whole sequester piece though is that the kind of cuts that we actually nee